Covid-19 deaths: Funeral parlours overwhelmed

Funeral Parlours in Gauteng are are overwhelmed, barely coping with the volume of deaths as the Covid-19 pandemic’s third wave ravages through the province, with undertakers saying there were 60% more deaths compared to the first and second wave.

With extremely busy and exhausted Doctors delaying in signing off death certificates, the dead are waiting on the living as bodies take longer than the three days required to dispose Covid-19 remains to be cleared for burial or cremation.

Also read: Emergency Coronavirus Command Council meeting as third wave intensifies

Though burial sites are seemingly coping, there has been chaos at crematoriums as Covid-19 deaths take toll, some funeral service providers have had to bring in extra staff and increase vehicles.

As much as the death industry was better prepared due to the first and second wave, Eddie Olivier, general manager at Grobbelaars Funeral Services said nothing could have prepare them for the third wave onslaught.

“…and we have not reached the peak yet. The scariest part is that the public could not care less.  They still socialise and walk around with masks hanging on the chin…the staff are overworked and emotionally drained.  ,” he said.

Bereaved families opt for private cremation vs full cremation services.  That means no service at all.  Cremation takes place and family collects ashes.  The emotional effect this pandemic has on the bereaved families will still last for many years to come.

Families opt for private cremation instead of full cremation services, meaning there was no service at all, Olivier said.

Cremation takes place and family collects ashes, he said but said there were families that still expected the funeral to be conducted as before the pandemic when it was impossible.

“The crematoriums have reached capacity and delays in cremations are at the order of the day. Another challenge is the delay in obtaining death certificates from exhausted doctors.  Without the death certificate we are not able to bury or cremate the deceased,” Olivier said.

Grobbelaars have employed creative and technological means to conduct safer funerals, with arrangements made virtually and services streamed live.

Mike Collinge, of Collinge and Co. Funeral Directors, said they knew what to expect during the third wave but said the deaths have surpassed their expectations.

“We are not coping. It is difficult. We are swamped at the moment, we have had to work day and night, get extra staff and vehicles…last July was the busiest month in 40 years. This June we have had an influx. We are told the third wave is more infectious but less deaths. We have had a huge increase in deaths,” he said.

Thom Kight and Co funerals services’ Neil Keight said the Brixton crematorium had four burners but only two worked due to lack of maintenance.

He said booking was also a nightmare and that 90% of his work was cremations and that it took up to 12 months for one to build a private crematorium and get it approved.

“The system is always skewed towards burials because the larger population go for burials. There is no development in terms of crematoriums,” Keight said.

But for Peter Thage, owner of 4 U Tombstones and Funerals in Ekurhuleni, the first wave was the worst compared to the third wave, saying there was a time when all their 15 fridges were full and had to seek extra storage elsewhere.

“I have not reached that point yet so we are managing well, having learnt a lot from the first and send wave,” he said. siphom@citizen.co.za